Durable Research,Portable Findings: Rhetorical Methods in Case Study Research

ABSTRACT

Case studies have been a central methodology employed by scholars working in the rhetoric of science and technical communication. However, concerns have been raised about how cases are constructed and collected, and what they convey. The authors reflect on how rhetoricians of science and technical communication researchers can – and do – construct a variety of case-based mixed-methods studies in ways that may make our research more portable and durable without undercutting the important and central role of case-based analysis.     

Social Perspective Taking: Advancing Empathy and Advocating Justice

Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1993 American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. My thanks for critical comments on earlier drafts to Patricia Campbell, Carol Anne Dwyer, Kathy O'Neill, Diane Pollard, and Donald Powers.     

Integration und Suche in digitalen Bibliotheken: Ein logikbasierter Ansatz

Zusammenfassung.   In diesem Beitrag wird eine „digitale Bibliothek” definiert als informationelle Umgebung, in der in integrierter Form verteilte Informationsquellen zug?nglich sind. Die Suche ist normalerweise ein interaktiver Proze?, in dem verfügbare Informationen in unterschiedlichen Formaten und in unterschiedlichen Kontexten benutzt werden. Ein wichtiges Forschungsthema im Bereich digitaler Bibliotheken ist daher der Entwurf anwendungsspezifischer Methoden für den Zugang zu heterogenen Wissensquellen, die sich bzgl. Thema, Format, Verfügbarkeit, Qualit?t und vieler anderer Eigenschaften stark unterscheiden k?nnen. Um dieser Anforderung gerecht zu werden, müssen die eingesetzten Information-Retrieval-Systeme eine sehr pr?zise Suche erm?glichen. Dabei reicht es nicht aus, lediglich Dokumente und Daten nachzuweisen, vielmehr müssen die gefundenen Informationen im Kontext des Informationsbedarfs des Benutzers eingebunden sein. Für diese Aufgabe schlagen wir Retrieval-Methoden vor, die auf abduktiver Logik basieren. Eingegangen am 19. Januar 1998 / Angenommen am 28. Juli 1998     

Evidence-based retrieval in evidence-based medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical decisions based on a meta-analysis that is based on an ineffective retrieval strategy may have serious negative consequences for patients. The study objective was to investigate the extent to which meta-analyses report proof of their retrieval strategies' effectiveness. METHODS: The authors examined a random sample (n = 100) of articles in the 1996 to 2002 full-text subset of Ovid MEDLINE indexed as "meta-analysis." We classified the articles in three ways: the article (A) reported both a retrieval strategy in sufficient detail (such that it could be repeated) and with evidence of the strategy's effectiveness, (B) reported a retrieval strategy in sufficient detail but not with evidence of the strategy's effectiveness, or (C) neither reported a strategy in detail nor evidence of the strategy's effectiveness. Articles classified as (A) were further classified according to the level of evidence reported. RESULTS: Of the eighty-nine articles in our final analysis, six (6.7%) were classified as category (A), fifty-seven (64%) as (B), and twenty-six (29%) as (C). Articles in category (A) reported a previously validated search, a published strategy, or strategy based on expert opinion. CONCLUSION: Peer-review standards must be developed that require authors of meta-analyses to report evidence for the effectiveness of their retrieval strategies.